Tag Archives: Richmond

Sugarholic Cafe

A friend was coming into town, so I decided to meet up with her and her family at Sugarholic Cafe. Their menu is quite extensive, and the photos are really helpful. But with so many selections, it was hard to figure out what to get.

The place is roomy that bright with natural light brightening the cafe from the large windows. With chic-like decor and slightly upscale, this is a great place to catch over with your girlfriends or for a date.

I had the Lunch Special which is any item on the special menu plus drink for $12.50. I had the N.1 Pasta with creamy masago (roe) and imitation crab meat and D.7 Caramel Milk Tea.

The tea was overly sweet. As a person who doesn’t put any sugar or sweetener in her tea, this was too much. I ended up not finishing it.

The Asian pasta on the other hand was very good. Nicely presented on a large plate. The addition of boiled eggs was nice and complemented the creamy sauce. Tasted really good. Love the texture of pasta spun with masago!

My friends ordered The Risotto with Chicken and an Americano lunch combo $12.50.

They also ordered a Takoyaki Nigiri $8.95 which was a bit pricey for 6 pieces with a side of shredded cabbage. However the takoyaki were topped with shrimp and octopus, so points for creativity. It tasted good too.

At last, they ordered dessert, Red Bean Matcha Honey Toast $10.95. This one took forever and ever to come out. I think by the time I asked them about it, the kitchen had forgotten about it. Toast with ice cream, whip cream, red beans and a raspberry on top can’t take that long! Anyways when it finally came out, you get a ‘wow’ from everybody.

Pros: looks pretty, not overly sweet, great to share

Cons: took forever, the individual pieces were hard and too big to eat in one bite, the toast could have used a bit of soaking or made more spongy, rather than dry and hard.

Overall, it was an pleasant dining experience. Good price for the lunch special. Service was ok. Parking is a nightmare in the mall, but that’s not Sugarholic’s fault. At the end, you can enjoy some shopping at Daiso.

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Snowy Village Cafe

When we arrived, it was arrived 6:30pm on a Sunday. The place was packed, but we had actually had arrived a good time because when we left, there was a long lineup out the door of people waiting! Wow!

I wanted to check it out as I was wowed by a shaved milk matcha dessert at Spaghetei in downtown Vancouver. I also came across a review that the Green Tea Bingsoo was great here, so wanted to check it out.

The place is run by Koreans.The staff are really friendly.

We got a table right away. It’s a little crammed, so you might end up bumping into the other tables as you scoot over to your chair against the wall. The interior has a lime, but gentle green theme throughout, from menus, chairs, tables and aprons. Even the napkins had the delightful green logo on it. Yes – once a designer, you notice the little things! The Korean music was a bit too loud though.

I ordered the regular sized Green Tea Bingsoo $8 (including tax) without nuts and was going to share one with Sheepie. The dessert took quite a while to come out. Even though it’s just shaved milk ice with some red beans, mochi and green tea powder, I guess it’s super busy, so it takes time.

They pile the shaved milk ice like crazy, so that each spoonful you take, you’ll definitely end up spilling some. Some of the other ones (like mango) had the juices and syrup running down the cup like waterfall.

Even with both of us, it felt like the regular was too much. I have no idea how others do it. But then again, I don’t eat that much sweets, and Sheepie doesn’t eat much ice/icecream to begin with.

The flavour was quite light. I wanted more green tea powder, and the shaved milk ice was not as rich as the one I had tried at Spaghetei. I kept rolling the melting shaved milk ice on my tongue to ‘squeeze’ out the flavour, but it wasn’t there.

Everything was good, but I left somewhat disappointed that I didn’t get wowed like the one I was expecting. If I crave them again, I’ll go back to Spaghetei instead.

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Dai Jang Kum

We had just done some shopping at the new McArthur Glen Outlet by YVR airport. But since half the stores weren’t open and barely any food venues, we drove down to Richmond to Dai Jang Kum as Sheepie had been there ages ago. It was before 6pm on a Saturday. We were a bit worried that the restaurant was so empty, but decided to give it a try. The place is a bit worn down. The menus are fraying (and some really dirty…ewww). Very simple decor. Bathroom needs an update/reno. There are grills at each table for BBQ and each booth is sectioned off to give a bit of privacy.

There were 6 varieties for ban chan (side dishes) which seemed like a lot since I was used to having only 4 maximum. There were kimchi, potatoes, radish in kimchi, sprouts, seaweed, etc.

I ordered the Dumpling Soup $10.95. It came in a big plastic bowl, with plenty of dumplings. Putting in some of the kimchi and other banchan helped to give it more flavour to the broth. It was ok. 3/5 Sheepie ordered the Kimchi Fried Udon $16.95. The portion was pretty big, but thought it was a bit pricey without much meat or seafood in it. However, the kimichi was quite flavourful and not that spicy, which was good for me. 3.5/5

Always nice to have buttons at the table to call the servers. Very handy. The service was satisfactory, nothing special.

Not a huge fan of the plastic grey carts they keep wheeling around to clean up after the tables or to bring food on them. Just feel like an animal at a farm or at a hospital getting served liked this. Not only is it unsightly, it’s loud too. Just cultural differences, I guess.

Would I return? Not sure. I know of better Korean restaurants in Vancouver, so it certainly wouldn’t be one that I would make an effort to go all the way there for.

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